The invention generally relates to vehicle bag-racks and handrails, and, more particularly, to aircraft bag-racks with a handrail attached thereto which is provided with a light for illuminating the front lower portion of the bag-rack and back-illuminating the handrail.
Many prior art designs for bag-racks having handrails attached thereto or proximal thereto are based more on esthetic considerations than pragmatic considerations. In such prior art structures, the bag-rack main body and the handrail are the same color and are shaped to visually blend together. Consequently, the handrail is not readily visually distinguishable from the bag-rack. Thus, the passenger cannot easily discern at a glance that a handrail is provided for his or her safety and convenience. In an emergency, being able to quickly spot a handrail may be crucial to the passenger's personal safety. Consequently, such prior art designs defeat an important purpose of providing a passenger handrail.
Prior art bag-racks having handrails associated therewith typically do not provide separate illumination of the handrail. Consequently, the handrails cannot be readily seen and visually distinguished from the bag-racks when the vehicle interior is generally dimly lit. Thus, under such conditions, a passenger may not be able to see the handrail and may, therefore, be prevented from being able to utilize the handrail in an emergency.
Many prior art designs for bag-racks having handrails utilize a cylindrical bar as the handrail. The cylindrical bar is typically of approximately a one inch diameter. Such relatively small diameter bars provide more of a finger grip than a full hand grasp. Consequently, such prior art handrails provide only a limited degree of stability and support to the user when walking or standing in the aisle of a vehicle.
Other prior art designs for bag-racks having handrails include a panel jutting out from the bag-rack main body and typically angled upward. The panel front portion serves as a handrail and provides generally opposing substantially flat surfaces. The user grips the panel with the front part of his or her fingers on the back surface and, if desired, the front portion of his or her thumb or palm on the front surface. Since a person's fingers are not typically very strong, such prior art handrails do not provide a high degree of stability and support to the user. In addition, dirt and trash tends to accumulate on the inner surfaces of such handrails requiring frequent cleaning thereof.
Thus, a bag-rack with a handrail is needed that can provide improved visual differentiation between the bag-rack and handrail in order to facilitate discernment of the handrail from the bag-rack and other vehicle structures. A bag-rack and handrail structure is also needed that allows a user to grasp the handrail with a full hand grasp so that it can provide more stability to the user. Furthermore, a bag-rack and handrail structure is needed in which desired portions thereof are more readily observable than other vehicle structures even in a generally dimly lit vehicle interior.